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Accelerating planning for Mount Barker and Adelaide Hills transport needs

Monday, 28 November 2022

Preparation of a long-term transport plan to support population and economic growth and boost liveability in Mount Barker and the Adelaide Hills is underway, with community views to play a major role.

The Department for Infrastructure and Transport is seeking feedback on locals’ travel experiences and challenges in Mount Barker and the Adelaide Hills to inform future transport planning and investment in the region.

The Adelaide Hills region is growing rapidly, with the area’s population expected to exceed 80,000 by 2036, including 47,000 in Mount Barker alone.

The Mount Barker/Adelaide Hills Transport Study will guide a long-term transport plan to inform future investment in the region, supporting population and economic growth and liveability.

Additionally, the Australian and South Australian governments have together committed $150 million (80:20) over five years to upgrade key strategic roads, as part of the Adelaide Hills Productivity and Road Safety Package.

The package includes a range of road improvements to support economic growth, improve road safety and provide safer routes in emergency situations in the Adelaide Hills area.

Community and stakeholder engagement will be vital to the successful planning and delivery of both initiatives.

Community members are invited to have their say on what they view as the transport needs for the region, via an online survey and through a series of information sessions. These sessions will be held at venues around the Adelaide Hills throughout the coming weeks.

For more information, including community information session dates and times and a link to the survey, please visit www.dit.sa.gov.au/adelaidehillsplan or www.dit.sa.gov.au/adelaidehillsprs.

Further background:

Mount Barker/Adelaide Hills Transport Study

The Mount Barker/Adelaide Hills Transport Study will prepare a long-term transport plan to support population and economic growth and liveability in Mount Barker and the Adelaide Hills.

It will be informed by population and employment data, travel demand and transport performance analysis, as well as stakeholder and community feedback.

Adelaide Hills Productivity and Road Safety Package

The $150 million Adelaide Hills Productivity and Road Safety Package will involve the delivery of a range of targeted safety treatments along a number of priority road corridors, over a five-year period up to 2027.

The targeted upgrades will provide safer escape and emergency response routes in emergency situations, improve road risk star ratings and improve connectivity between supply sources and markets.

The following road corridors have been identified by current safety and traffic data as requiring upgrades under the package:

  • Main Road, Cherry Gardens – Black Road to Chandlers Hill Road
  • Main Road – Edgecumbe Parade, Blackwood to Black Road, Coromandel Valley
  • Kangarilla Road/Dashwood Gully Road – Clarendon to Meadows
  • North East Road/Torrens Valley Road – Houghton to Mount Pleasant
  • Norton Summit Road/Lobethal Road/Mount Torrens Road – Teringie to Mount Torrens
  • Mount Barker Road/Strathalbyn Road – Stirling to Strathalbyn
  • Onkaparinga Valley Road – Birdwood to Verdun
  • Long Valley Road – Wistow to Strathalbyn (additional to existing upgrade works).

The package will include investigations on the junction of Junction Road, Jones Road and the railway crossing and the intersection of Onkaparinga Valley Road, Nairne Road and Junction Road, both located in Balhannah.

Some of the works included in the package are more urgent or in an advanced stage of planning and design and are therefore due to commence in the coming months.

Asphalting works on Main Road, between Edgecumbe Parade and Black Road, are expected to commence in late 2022, weather permitting, while works to construct a new southbound overtaking lane on Long Valley Road, from approximately 1.5 kilometres north of Long Valley Cottages Road to south of Mine Flat Road, are expected to commence first quarter of 2023.